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It is every parent’s nightmare: your toddler bites another child and is too young to say sorry.

You may feel that your parenting is to blame or that the boisterous nursery environment is turning your child into a bully. However, scientists now suggest that genetic factors largely explain toddler aggression and that external factors may have little influence.

Eric Lacourse, a psychologist at the University of Montreal who led the study, said: “Parents should feel less guilty about this and be more modest about their power to influence their children.”